Kuwaiti liberal lawmaker dies during parliamentary session

KUWAIT CITY (AP) — A Kuwaiti lawmaker has collapsed and died during a regular parliamentary session.

The official Kuwait News Agency quotes Parliament Speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim as saying that lawmaker Nabil al-Fadhl died of an unspecified medical condition during a parliamentary session Tuesday.

Al-Fadhl was seen as a liberal within Kuwait's political system, which is the most free-wheeling among the oil-rich Gulf Arab states. He was elected to parliament in 2012.

A former Kuwait Airways pilot and columnist who wrote extensively about various political issues, he was outspoken against what he saw as regression and backwardness from Islamist parliament members. He sparked controversy earlier this year when he said he supported legalizing the sale of alcohol in the predominantly Muslim country, which bans its sale.